Wings of Romance/plot
Chapter 1 Steeley's wife has gone to New Zealand to look after her sister who has been injured in an earthquake. Feeling bored, he visits London and looks up Tubby Wildes and Brian Ballantyne. They decide to accept a request by one Señor Marquez, the ambassador of Carabonia to help reform and train the air force of the Central American country. The trio arrive at Prava, the ramshackle capital and things do not begin well when General Luis Vincenti, the commander of army tells them that the British consul has died two days ago. Chapter 2 On the way to the Presidential Palace, our friends have a narrow escape when an unknown sniper takes a pot shot at their car. There was "a minor revolution" going on in the country. Their feeling of unease is made worse when they meet President Pedro Ramoza and their conversation in interuppted by the sounds of multiple executions going on in the courtyard outside. Ramoza appoints Steeley as Air Admiral and Tubby and Brian as Deputy Admirals. He gives them his car and driver and sends them to the airfield at Campenalla to inspect the equipment. Clearly the President is not interested in the details but he does admonish Steeley not to stand "any nonsense from anyone." Chapter 3 At Campanella, Steeley, Tubby and Brian enter a hangar and meet a American mechanic, Luke Rogers who puts them wise about the situation. Steeley is the seventh "Air Admiral" in six months. Luke himself was one. He arrived six months ago and is busy fixing up an aircraft to escape. He introduces them to Alexander McNash who has been hiding in the hangar. MacNash had been in Carabonia for twenty years but hopes to escape with Luke. Luke and McNash reveal that the country is "all crook". Ramoza had dishonestly taken over power from the previous President, Antonio Gonzales and had since been looting the country. Gonzales is popular with the people and Ramoza cannot touch him nor get an army through the forest to reach his hacienda. However Ramoza has now kidnapped Gonzales' son and threatens to execute him unless Gonzales surrenders. In response, Gonzales had obtained an aircraft and had threatened to bomb the Presidential Palace if that happened. Steeley decides to help Luke and McNash. He gives them some money and asks them to get his American father-in-law to send an aircraft for them. Luke and McNash take off in their rickety aircraft but promptly crash. Steeley's only link to the outside world is now cut. Chapter 4 Steeley and friends encounter Air Admiral Jacob Krimm, another "Air Admiral". He, like the rest of the air force, does not look promising at all. There is not one aircraft close to being serviceable. Steeley decides to go back to Prava and tell Ramoza that they are resigning but then a Gipsy Moth flies over the airfield and strafes it with a machine gun. The departing aircraft develops engine trouble and crashes into the forest some distance away. Tubby wants to save a fellow pilot and heads for crash site in Ramoza's car. Chapter 5 Tubby finds the Gipsy Moth pilot, Anita Gonzales, daughter of Antonio Gonzales. Tubby falls in love with her and offers to join her father. He fixes the engine problem but night is falling and it is dangerous to push through the jungle to get back to Campenella. Anita offers to take him to see her father and they take off for Antonio's hacienda. Chapter 6 Tubby tells Antonio how he, Steeley and Brian had been deceived into joining the Carabonia air force. He promises to rescue Ramon but he also needs to get back to Campenella to join his friends. Anita takes him over Campenella and he drops off by parachute. Chapter 7 At Campenella, Ramoza's driver tells Tubby that he had recovered the car and had driven Steeley and Brian back to Prava. Tubby agrees to ride with him back to the Presidential Palace. He drops off in the courtyard and finds a guard sergeant and asks him to take him to see Steeley. The sergeant guides him into a dark room and promptly shuts and locks the door! It is a trick! Steeley and Brian are prisoners in the room, and now so is Tubby. Chapter 8 Vicenti comes in to tell them that they are scheduled for execution in the morning. After he goes, Tubby springs into action. He had hidden on his person a hacksaw, a leather lariat and a pistol. He frees Brian and Steeley and then saw off the bars of the cell window. Tubby climbs down to the rampart and captures the guard sergeant he had met earlier. He obtains the prison keys from him and proceeds to free Ramon. He also takes the opportunity to unlock all the cells and leaves the other prisoners with the keys and hacksaw. Chapter 9 Antonio had earlier given Tubby the address of one Fernando Nuez, a friend who lived near the harbour. Tubby, Steeley, Brian and Ramon escape from the castle and proceed there. Nuez gives them food and shelter for a while but Ramoza's troops had obviously been watching the place in secret and are soon demanding to be let in. Our friends escape through a neighbouring house and run towards Campanella but Nuez is shot dead during the pursuit. Chapter 10 Our friends get to Campanella and decide that the only chance is to attempt to take off in one of the old aircraft in the hangar. They manage to start up a Vickers Valid which only had two engines out of its normal four. Their pursuers are closing in and shots begin to hit the aircraft but they succeed in getting away. Nearing the hacienda, they are intercepted by Anita in her Gipsy Moth but Tubby signals to her and she stops shooting. The engines of the Vickers fail and Steeley is forced to put it down in a jungle clearing. Anita flies Ramon home while the others set up camp for the night. Chapter 11 While our friends sit by the campfire, Tubby expresses his determination to stay in Carabonia to help Antonio. Steeley thinks it is hopeless but then he has an idea. He would persuade his father-in-law, Silas P. Marven to lend some combat aircraft and munitions. In exchange, he could be granted aviation contracts in the future Carabonia once freed of Ramoza. Tubby enthusiastically supports this plan. Antonio turns up with a party of gauchos to rescue our friends and take them back to the hacienda. Chapter 12 Tubby awakes to find that Steeley has departed for the U.S. in the Gipsy Moth to talk to his father-in-law. Steeley had suggested that Tubby start organising and training Antonio's men into an effective military force. Antonio agrees with this, and to Tubby's suggestion that Ramon be made the Commanding Officer. Tubby is left alone with Anita and they share another romantic moment concluding with an agreement to meet that night by moonlight. Chapter 13 Tubby begins training Antonio's motley army, but after three days comes bad news. Ramoza is approaching with a strong force of troops, being guided through the jungle by some Indians. Antonio's men are about to desert in terror but Tubby rallies them. As Ramoza would have to use a certain mountain pass to reach the hacienda, Tubby leads the horsemen to scout out a defensive position there. Ramon is to follow with the rest of the men on foot. Chapter 14 Tubby sets up a roadblock at the mouth of the canyon and is soon joined by Ramon's men. Ramoza's campfires can be seen some ten miles away so Tubby leads a punitive raid on the enemy camp with some gauchos to capture rifles and ammunition. The attack achieves total surprise and they capture a large quantity of weapons. Chapter 15 Ramoza attacks and surprises Tubby by bringing up artillery. Tubby's men repulse assault after assault but they take heavy casualties from shelling by the enemy field guns. By the next day, their ammunition is exhausted. Tubby is preparing for a last stand when two fighters show up and begin strafing the enemy. Steeley has returned! Ramoza's men retreat in a rout while Tubby moves quickly to retrieve ther abandoned weapons, capturing four machine guns and all their artillery. Chapter 16 Steeley had indeed returned, with two fighters and a 24-seater transport. His father-in-law had agreed to the deal. Tubby gets the idea of using the transport to airlift Antonio's men to capture the Presidential Palace at Prava before Ramoza can get back there. Chapter 17 The lightly defended Presidential Palace is easily captured. A cheering populaton hails Antonio as the new president. Cut off and without supplies, Ramoza's army soon deserts and fades away. It is later found that he and Vincenti have been murdered by their own men. Steeley decides to stay on to look after his father-in-law's business interests. Tubby hastens to return to the hacienda and Anita. Category:Plot summaries